My car has had overheating problems for about 2-3 months now. I have had the thermostat replaced, new radiator installed, fan has been checked to make sure it is kicking on properly, and a new temp sensor has been installed. When I had the radiator replaced the radiator shop said my radiator was badly clogged. The only other options that I can think of that could possibly be wrong with it are the water pump is not pumping coolant to the motor or a blowed headgasket. The headgasket I am ruling out because the car doesnt smoke and there is no water in the oil. Is it possible to have a blowed headgasket and the car not be smoking or without finding water in the oil? How do you check for a blowed headgasket and/or a bad waterpump? Yesterday the car got all the way in the red and blew a radiator hose, so I'm gonna fix that today and get all the fluid put back in it.

 

Typically blown head gaskets will leak into the cylinders and/or the oil passages. Doesn't sound like your problem to me. To check the water pump run the motor with the radiator cap off and see if there is coolant flowing through the radiator.

Most likely, you probably have air in the system. There are 2 small bleeder screw in the coolant hoses. I would try unscrewing those first to see if any coolant comes out. If coolant doesn't come out go to shoe box's web site and get the correct way to bleed the coolant system.

 

Put all the coolant back in it today and bled the system using the bleeder screw on the thermostat housing and she's still running hot. The temp hand steadily climbs when you start driving it, usually after about 10mins of driving the temp hand is at about 3/4 of the way over. I'm not sure what else it could be. Anyone other suggestions?

 

Plastic air dam intac?

how old is your pump? You try swapping it out?

Make sure your stat is a 160/180 and it is working like it's suppose to.



i would stop running it before you really blow it up...

 

Hmm have you tried adding water wetter or anything like that in it to help it stay cooler?
And other thing is i would check your heads for a crack...... thats a possiblity as well... My buddy had same prob and there was a hairline crack in it...

 

Well the water pump is the only other thing that has not been replaced besides the headgaskets. I know the thermostat is working like its supposed too, they checked it at the radiator shop. Isn't there some type of kit you can buy to test your antifreeze to see if there is a headgasket leak? If it is a headgasket I don't have the money to fix it and will probably end up selling it so I hope it's not a blowed headgasket.

 

You can take the car to a shop and they can pressurize the cooling system through the cap. If it holds the pressure the head gasket is OK.

Anyway, you should be able to see coolant circulating if you look into the radiator when the engine is running. Let he thing cool down and take off the cap. Start the engine and take a look down the filler hole. If you don't see any circulation, it's a pump problem. If the coolant is circulating the next thing to do is wait for the thermostat to open....when it does the level in the radiator should drop. If both those things happen, change the radiator cap and bleed the aor from the system...you should be OK.

 

Should the engine be forcing antifreeze back out the radiator when you take the cap off? If you take the cap off with the motor cold it will push alot of antifreeze back out the top if you don't put the cap back on it.

 

No, sounds like you have a clog somewhere. The coolant should circulate through the radiator & the heater core, then when the engine gets hot enough to open the thermostat the coolant flows through the engine. Did the shop that replaced your radiator completely flush the system?

 

Yeah they flushed the system, refilled it and bled it. Could it be a clogged heater core? Sometimes after I park it, shut it off, then restart it a few minutes later like when I get gas, the temp hand will be all the way in the red... If I turn the heater and fan wide open the hand will jump back down immediatley to a normal temp. Also I put a new radiator cap on it today, haven't drove it with the new cap on yet.

 

The water temp sensor for the computer and therefore fan control, is on the front of the water pump. The temp sensor for the dash gauge is on the driver side head, I would take a look at the wires for these sensors and make sure they're not damaged. I had false dash gauge indications due to this.

 

yea but if it overheated so much that he blew a hose I would not suspect it to be a bad temp reading.

 

Too much data to think the temp gauge is in error.

A clogged heater core won't cause this...all that would cause is a no heat situation.

Sounds like the wrong thermostat to me. Get a LT1 specific thermostat and install it.....

 

If coolant isn't flowing through the heater core won't that prevent it from reaching the motor? Or is it routed so it goes to both the motor and heater core at the same time? I'm pretty sure I have the right thermostat. I got it from napa and I saw the guy look it up, and on my receipt for it it says 5.7 lt1 350cid.

 

You're right, I read too many posts and forgot about the rad. hose part.


The LT1 thermostat is different from a regular 350 stat. LT1 specific stats are not sold in napa, or any other parts store, they have to be ordered. I forget the difference but I think there is a picture on Shoebox's website. Some people have run the generic 350 t-stat with no issue, others have had problems.